03-06-2025
See Mount Etna's eruption from SPACE: Incredible satellite images reveal the moment the volcano spewed a gigantic plume of ash more than four miles into the sky - sending tourists running for their lives
Mount Etna unleashed a spectacular eruption yesterday afternoon which sent tourists fleeing for their lives.
Now, incredible satellite images reveal the moment Europe's most active volcano spewed a gigantic plume of ash four miles (6.5km) into the sky.
The terrifying photos were captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite as it passed overhead just minutes after the eruption began.
Although the eruption ultimately proved to be harmless, these images reveal the immense destructive potential of the 10,800ft (3,300 metres) volcano.
At 11:24am local time, experts believe that a large part of the southeastern crater collapsed, triggering an avalanche of rock and ash known as a pyroclastic flow.
In the before and after images, you can clearly see how the eruption sent a vast plume of ash into the air covering a large area with fresh ash.
In the photos, the dense cloud of ash rising from the summit crater is partially covered by a 'pyrocumulus cloud', a type of storm cloud formed by the intense heat of volcanic eruptions.
Meanwhile, infrared imagery captured the intense heat of the active lava flows descending eastwards into Mount Etna's Valle del Bove.
From the early hours of Monday morning, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) Etna Observatory reported a number of explosions of 'increasing intensity' emerging from the volcano.
Video captured by tourists walking near the crater recorded the booming sounds of an eruption and showed a huge column of ash rising into the sky.
Terrified hikers turned and ran for their lives as the huge cloud billowed behind them.
Writing in The Conversation, Dr Teresa Ubide, of The University of Queensland, says: 'The eruption began with an increase of pressure in the hot gases inside the volcano. This led to the partial collapse of part of one of the craters atop Etna.
'The collapse allowed what is called a pyroclastic flow: a fast-moving cloud of ash, hot gas and fragments of rock bursting out from inside the volcano.'
Pyroclastic flows can be extremely dangerous as they travel at average speeds of 60 miles per hour (100 kmph) and can reach temperatures up to 1,000°C (1,800°F).
Luckily, in this instance, the flow was not large enough or travelling in the right direction to cause any harm or damage.
Sicily's president, Renato Schifani, said experts had assured him the flow posed 'no danger to the population' and had not passed beyond the Valley of the Lions, the point where tourist groups stop.
It was the eruption of this pyroclastic flow which kicked up the ash cloud which can be seen from space in the satellite imagery.
The cloud, which mainly contains water and sulphur dioxide, was recorded by the INGV to be 'drifting towards the southwest' after the eruption began.
The INGV said in a statement that 'the falling of a little thin ash has been flagged' in the Piano Vetore area - a popular wildlife park on Etna's southern flank.
Meanwhile, as satellite images reveal, the eruption scattered a large amount of 'fine reddish material' produced by the pyroclastic flow over the northwest.
A red aviation warning was briefly issued by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre after the ash column rose over four miles into the air, but no flights have currently been disrupted.
Following the pyroclastic flow, the eruption also produced plumes of hot molten lava.
Dr Ubide says: 'Lava began to flow in three different directions down the mountainside. These flows are now cooling down.'
Using shortwave infrared cameras the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite created a 'false colour' composite to show the intense heat of these flows.
Taken at 09:40 UTC, this image shows the lava flow barely beginning to branch as it escapes from the crater.
In a blog post sharing the images, Copernicus says: 'Copernicus data is key to tracking global volcanic activity, helping communities to assess hazards, support emergency response operations, and monitor long-term changes to landscapes.'
According to a statement issued by INGV yesterday evening, the eruption activity has now come to an end.
The INGV says: 'From a seismic point of view, the tremor has returned to low values although showing some oscillations on the average values.'
The statement adds that 'deformation', rising of the land due to the buildup of pressure which often proceeds an eruption, now appeared to be 'exhausted'.
Mount Etna, located on the eastern coast of Sicily, is one of the most active volcanoes worldwide and has been going through an especially active period for the last five years.
Last summer, the volcano caused chaos at nearby airports as they were forced to limit and divert flights as pilots struggled with visibility.
A usually busy Catania airport had to send flights to other airports on the island, such as Palermo and Comiso.
Arriving flights were reduced to six per hour and one section of the airport was closed, while local towns were also covered in a blanket of black ash.
The 500,000-year-old volcano has been spewing lava during repeated outbursts in May before today's explosion.
Etna's most destructive eruption covered 14 villages and towns in lava flows and earthquakes from the volcano.
The eruption, which lasted several weeks, killed nearly 20,000 people, with thousands more made homeless, according to records from 1669.
HOW CAN RESEARCHERS PREDICT VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS?
According to Eric Dunham, an associate professor of Stanford University's School of Earth, energy and Environmental Sciences, 'Volcanoes are complicated and there is currently no universally applicable means of predicting eruption. In all likelihood, there never will be.'
However, there are indicators of increased volcanic activity, which researchers can use to help predict volcanic eruptions.
Researchers can track indicators such as:
Volcanic infrasound: When the lava lake rises up in the crater of an open vent volcano, a sign of a potential eruption, the pitch or frequency of the sounds generated by the magma tends to increase.
Seismic activity: Ahead of an eruption, seismic activity in the form of small earthquakes and tremors almost always increases as magma moves through the volcano's 'plumbing system'.
Gas emissions: As magma nears the surface and pressure decreases, gases escape. Sulfur dioxide is one of the main components of volcanic gases, and increasing amounts of it are a sign of increasing amounts of magma near the surface of a volcano.
Ground deformation: Changes to a volcano's ground surface (volcano deformation) appear as swelling, sinking, or cracking, which can be caused by magma, gas, or other fluids (usually water) moving underground or by movements in the Earth's crust due to motion along fault lines. Swelling of a volcano cans signal that magma has accumulated near the surface.
